Creep-induced lattice defects caused by thermal stress in the junction area of GaAs light emitting diodes are now known to be a source for their degradation. The thermal stress is generated when the flow of current causes the temperature of the diode to increase. Degradation is generally believed to be caused by thermally induced stress which causes the semiconducting material to creep above the critical resolved sheer stress at a creep rate EQU .epsilon.=C.tau..sup.-3 e.sup.-Q/kT
where
C=proportionality constant PA1 .tau.=stress PA1 Q=activation energy PA1 k=Bolzman constant PA1 T=temperature.
Since creep causes the injurious lattice defects, it is desirable to have both stress and temperature simultaneously as low as possible. The temperature at the junction is already minimized by making the chip as thin as possible.
The present method of manufacturing diodes of this type is to solder the diode to the header (heat sink) with indium solder. After the indium has solidified then a gold wire end is attached to the top of the chip for applying voltage to the diode. For a more detailed discussion of LED fabrication, reference may be had to Semiconductor Lasers and Heterojunction LEDs by Henry Kressel and J. K. Butler, Academic Press, New York, 1977.